Chapter 453: The first battle

Chapter 453: The first battle

It turned out that the Wastes were a fair bit larger than Noah had initially thought. Traveling through the ruddy orange-red desert wasnt exactly the most comfortable experience. He was fortunate enough to have brought his flying sword along with him, but since Lee no longer had her ability to transform, they all had to squeeze on and cling to each other for dear life.

After a few near-crashes, they eventually found a setup that worked well enough to let them stay in the air. Moxie stood at the front of the sword and Noah held her to his chest while Lee clung to his back like a mixture between a monkey and a backpack.

They flew relatively low to the ground, not wanting to get too high and risk a crash being fatal.

Lee had been right about the desert being more than just dirt and sand. After just a few hours, they started to pass large protrusions of hole-filled rocks that rose up from the ground, some as large as three or four story buildings.

The holes were large enough for a person to squeeze into if they were so inclined, and according to Lee, many of them stretched far underground. Noah had no desire to investigate. From what she had said, the only thing that lived in the area were weak demons.

Several times, he could have sworn that he caught a glimpse of eyes peering at them from within the holes or from the edges of the stone structures as they passed. They were always gone by the time he checked again and they were moving too fast and were still too far for his Body Imbuements to be of much use.

Hours flew by literally as they zipped across the Damned Plains. Lee occasionally yelled for him to change directions, but the Wastes seemed to stretch on and on without any end. The only way to track the time was by watching the enormous moon overhead. Something told Noah its cycle wasnt the same as the ones he was used to.

Even though he could have sworn it had been nearly a full day of flying by how hungry hed started to get, the moon had only crawled a short way through the sky. That meant he was delusional or the day-night cycles here were considerably longer than they were on the mortal realm.

Lee smacked her forehead into Noahs shoulder twice, which was their established signal for land the sword. He adjusted his course, leaning forward and bringing it down toward a dune near a tall outcropping of black rock.VIsit n0(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

They all hopped off the sword as it slid to a stop.

What is it? Noah asked, glancing around the desert. It looked just about the same as every other part that theyd passed through to his eyes. Do you need to relieve yourself?

No. We need a sacrifice if we want to enter the city, Lee said. And if youre planning to pretend to be powerful, then well probably need one for each of us.

Noah tilted his head to the side. Powerful means giving up more? From what I know of demons, I would have thought that showing up with almost nothing would have been a way to act superior.

No. Giving up more shows youre so strong or rich that giving it away doesnt even affect you, Lee explained.

Okay, I can see that, Noah allowed. He glanced around again. So why did we stop here?

To get our first sacrifice. There should be something pretty strong in this area.

What kind of demon could we be up against? Noah asked as he stepped onto the stone and approached one of the large, spongelike holes that led into it.

There are a lot of different kinds, Lee replied. Her brow furrowed in thought. Its hard to say exactly which one would be here. The smell of mushrooms is actually pretty strong, so it might be something that really likes them. An Ettercap, maybe?

What Rank are they on average?

I cant remember, Lee said sheepishly. But I remember they were pretty strong. Every time one approached my hiding place I ran. Theyre not monsters I would take too lightly. They really like ambushing you, so watch out for

Noahs senses flared a warning as something shifted in the shadows. A flash of wrinkly beige flesh caught Noahs eyes and he spun toward it, thrusting his hands forward and releasing the energy from Natural Disaster that hed been holding at the ready.

A brilliant flash of yellow light lit the cave, revealing a big, lumpy mushroom nearly half Noahs height. It had a bright red cap covered with white spots and, for a flicker of an instant, a shocked expression crossed the beady features on the mushrooms stalk.

Then it exploded with a loud pop, splattering mushroom matter all over the ground as it pitched back, dead before it could even make a move. The three of them stared at the corpse as energy rose from it and entered Noah, who was too stunned at the pathetic attempt at putting up a fight to even try Sundering it.

Er was that a baby? Moxie asked.

Lee poked at the dead monster with a toe. I dont think so. Its about as big as I remember them being.

Lee, one quick question, Noah said. When you said that the monsters in this area were powerful, was that in reference to how strong you used to be? Or how strong you are now?

After a second of hesitation, Lee scratched the back of her neck and gave Noah a sheepish smile. I think it might be a little bit of the first one.

I cant really blame her. After all the time she spent stuck here wanting to escape, its only natural for her to have the memories of how dangerous the monsters that were once a threat to her locked in her mind, even if they dont stand a chance against us anymore.

Its okay, Noah said. He looked down at the pulped mushroom. Would this really be enough to be as sacrifice?

Now that I think about it, I dont actually know what the sacrifices usually were if you were strong, Lee admitted. I almost never went to the cities. They arent kind to really weak demons. But if the Ettercap is actually this much worse than I remember

She trailed off and they all exchanged a look, coming to the same conclusion at the same time. If the goal was to come off as powerful as possible, they couldnt roll up to the demon city with just a squished mushroom.

Were going to need to find some stronger demons, Moxie said.